Autowipers are actually dangerous

[Jonnymack74]

IMO the beta should be removed.
I've got a 2019 Model S and they are more than useless, they are dangerous.

My experience the other week during the snow: autowipe perfection. I put this down to the camera registering large snowflakes on the windscreen better than any rain can be registered.

Compared to the next day with rain? Not working at all resulting in windscreen being so bad it was impossible to make out anything. However when the rain died down it started wiping the windows..the mind boggles.

The only other time I can guarantee a response is with a wet windscreen, as soon as I put it into reverse the wipers go full pelt regardless of how light or heavy the rain is.

I suppose I should be grateful I can turn them off via my stalk

An absolute danger of a system, and this fella thinks he can send men to Mars? Well at least there's no rain in space.

 

[GlynG]

For a company that have such high expectations and aspirations for a future where the cars will drive themselves some features of the car are unfit for purpose, If you look back to old cars where they had vacuum operated wipers and when you floored the throttle the wipers would stop working or slow down to a speed a snail could crawl faster - there are similarities with Tesla.

I don't think it matters to any driver what system operates a feature - a cheapo sensor that's super reliable - but not perfect - or Tesla's vision system providing the thing works most of the time - and vision is not there yet, and its a problem that's been in existence for so many years - another case of the chase for perfection rejecting the good.

 

[MARKM3]

The auto wipers are arguably a hardware delete fail imo. Just like I feel the USS sensor delete is. I had a 2018 model 3, and they were awful. I can say with my 2023 model x they’ve gotten slightly better, but still do terrible with misting conditions.

What’s funny is if I put the car in autopilot the auto wipers work much better. Very strange.

Most car companies continue to add new features and customer experiences, and Tesla is lacking with theirs IMO. I sure hope V11 FSD rapidly improves FSD and moves Tesla into a new category - otherwise I fear they are going to eventually fall to the wayside as they allow other automakers to catch up.

I just couldn’t buy another 3 or go with a Y, too basic and lacking too many functions of an everyday car now.

 

[Konicom04]

Im a new(er) owner of the M3P and generally am truly fascinated with the car.
Except - the auto wiper when AP is on. It is soooo irritating. They will come on when windshield is dry, or won't come on when raining.
Just awful - fully agree with the OP

 

[qwickshot]

Doesn’t the model s have a rain sensor and sensitivity adjustment on the stalk?

 

[Kansalis]

What’s funny is if I put the car in autopilot the auto wipers work much better. Very strange.

I find the opposite, usually. It's probably just a perception issue for both of us in the opposite directions.

They seem to only work as you would expect when conditions are perfect for them; it's raining a moderate amount, with no too much road spray. Anything either side of that, they just seem to not be able to cope. If there's a lot of fine spray from the road or if the rain is drizzle the windscreen can go almost completely opaque before the system will notice, then it will wipe the almost-dry grime into a film to completely blind the driver. If it's raining very heavily & there's a lot of water on the screen I'm sure the camera sometimes can't see that it's looking through water as there are no defined edges.

The most annoying problem for me is when you clear the screen with the washers when it's not raining, or even worse when there's a very small amount of spray from a wet road. If you're moving slowly, residual water runs down from the top of the screen & triggers the camera to wipe. If you're doing more than around 40 MPH the tip of the right hand wiper flings water at the camera on every pass, so they keep going for ages & leave streaks on the screen. Then they get into a cycle of going faster & faster because the system thinks it's raining harder until you eventually have to turn them off.

 

[rnr_623]

I drove my few month old Tesla Model Y on rain the other day and the auto wiper is really terrible. I had to switch to manual setting for me to be able to see safely. The other time I was driving head-on to the sun and my auto wiper keeps on turning on.

 

[Midpack]

The rain sensor wipers on my wifes newish Honda Accord Hybrid Touring don’t work very well either, does any make have it down cold? Her car is always a step behind, e.g. unless it’s pouring rain, the wipers come on long after windshield is obscured by rain, and stay on after rain has subsided and windshield is dry. Have to use manual wipers at least half the time…

 

[Krugerrand]

IMO the beta should be removed.
I've got a 2019 Model S and they are more than useless, they are dangerous.

My experience the other week during the snow: autowipe perfection. I put this down to the camera registering large snowflakes on the windscreen better than any rain can be registered.

Compared to the next day with rain? Not working at all resulting in windscreen being so bad it was impossible to make out anything. However when the rain died down it started wiping the windows..the mind boggles.

The only other time I can guarantee a response is with a wet windscreen, as soon as I put it into reverse the wipers go full pelt regardless of how light or heavy the rain is.

I suppose I should be grateful I can turn them off via my stalk

An absolute danger of a system, and this fella thinks he can send men to Mars? Well at least there's no rain in space.

Easily resolved for you. Don’t use beta and turn your wipers on and off manually as you deem necessary - like every car you owned before the Tesla, so no learning curve required. As the tech improves so shall various aspects of the car.

Owner of an early 3, auto wiper accuracy has varied over the years with OTAs, but mostly work decent for me. The odd times they don’t, I don’t sweat it and just use them the old fashion way. No more danger involved either way. Don’t be dramatic, it’s not Shakespeare theatre.

 

[Jonnymack74]

Easily resolved for you. Don’t use beta and turn your wipers on and off manually as you deem necessary - like every car you owned before the Tesla, so no learning curve required. As the tech improves so shall various aspects of the car.

Owner of an early 3, auto wiper accuracy has varied over the years with OTAs, but mostly work decent for me. The odd times they don’t, I don’t sweat it and just use them the old fashion way. No more danger involved either way. Don’t be dramatic, it’s not Shakespeare theatre.

Yeah cos when driving in the rain and going through multiple menus to switch the beta off is safe isn't it. The point is that it's been in beta for how many years now? It will never work appropriately and neither will FSD IMO..especially in UK

 

[Jonnymack74]

Doesn’t the model s have a rain sensor and sensitivity adjustment on the stalk?

No rain sensor. But in standard mode the stalk has intermittent speed settings plus always on settings.

 

[FastLaneJB]

The rain sensor wipers on my wifes newish Honda Accord Hybrid Touring don’t work very well either, does any make have it down cold? Her car is always a step behind, e.g. unless it’s pouring rain, the wipers come on long after windshield is obscured by rain, and stay on after rain has subsided and windshield is dry. Have to use manual wipers at least half the time…

Does it have a sensitivity setting and you've got it set too weak that it doesn't work correctly? BMW's, Mercs and Land Rovers I've had all work just fine.

This is definitely an area Tesla needs to improve on still, it is one of its weakest areas.

 

[GRiLLA]

Yeah cos when driving in the rain and going through multiple menus to switch the beta off is safe isn't it. The point is that it's been in beta for how many years now? It will never work appropriately and neither will FSD IMO..especially in UK

Press the end of the left stick and the pop-up wiper menu will appear on the right of the menu, one touch is all that's required to change wiper speed.

 

[plisken]

Press the end of the left stick and the pop-up wiper menu will appear on the right of the menu, one touch is all that's required to change wiper speed.

If its torrential rain in traffic, perhaps other conditions and situations where I'd prefer to keep my hands on the wheel and as importantly, my eyes on the road, the last thing I want to do it look down for a pop up menu and attempt to hit the right area on the screen.

Good try though...

 

[s_zigmond]

It wouldn't be so bad, if you could a) adjust the wipers from the stalk b) they weren't forced to auto when using cruise. The later being the bigger pain in the rear!

 

[sheresingh]

The main problem with the auto wipers is that it relies on having the area where the cameras are to be spotless so I sometimes have to clean that area before I drive so that the wipers behave themselves when they're set to auto.

 

[Mullermn]

Another area where experiences vary so dramatically you have to wonder if all Teslas behave the same way. For what it's worth, when I bought the car in December the wipers were terrible, the Christmas update made them 'fine', and I literally just commented to my wife yesterday that I thought the last couple of releases must have tweaked them further because I have no complaints with them at all now. I certainly haven't felt tempted to take them off auto in a good 6 weeks.

 

[Sparkeur]

If its torrential rain in traffic, perhaps other conditions and situations where I'd prefer to keep my hands on the wheel and as importantly, my eyes on the road, the last thing I want to do it look down for a pop up menu and attempt to hit the right area on the screen.

Good try though...

I have to agree with you. I drove back home on Saturday night and hit a rain storm that can only be described as biblical. Quiet French country road with no lighting and poor markings. Added to very slow/normal/nothing at all wipers, I was also struggling with auto headlamps which kept cutting off as they were reflecting back from the rain. Taking my eyes off the road to fiddle with a menu card while that was going on wasn't an option - neither was stopping as the chances of a driver coming round one of the many bends behind in those conditions wasn't a pleasant thought. So with my left hand pulling and pushing the light stalk and pressing the wiper button when necessary, I pressed on in my hi-tec, state of the art vehicle...

 

[MrBadger]

...So with my left hand pulling and pushing the light stalk and pressing the wiper button when necessary, I pressed on in my hi-tec, state of the art vehicle...

and? AND? You cannot leave it with a cliff hanger like that...

 

[AndrewGR]

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned voice commands for the wipers. Saying “Wipers OFF” / AUTO / 1, 2, 3 etc often works BUT I’ve had them go OFF when trying to speed them up in torrential rain. Like the rest of the wiper controls, it’s too unpredictable. Drove a Fiat 500 hybrid hire car recently. Lots wrong with it, but having a stalk with the ability to manually control the wipers (which had an auto setting) was a great feature.